I hope your Holidays were full of Love, Joy and Celebration!
As the last week of an intense year winds down, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy, creative, prosperous New Year.
This holiday season I tried 2 new sparkling cocktail recipes from Serious Eats. The Bellisimo Aceto, and the Minnesota Good-bye. Both of these cocktails are great holiday variations on the French 75 Champagne Cocktail. I love them first because they are bittersweet as opposed to sweet, and second the color is beautiful, festive and perfect for your New Years Bash 2017….
Cheers, Carlita….

The fall landscape is rapidly moving from orange and golds, to the neutral browns and greys of bare trees and solid ground. I always look forward to fall vegetables, the dark greens of kale and bright warm colors of fall squash. Besides the sweet and earthy flavors and the burst of color on the plate, these foods are packed with iron, vitamin A and other essential goodies.

Pepita Salsa is a specialty of the Yucatan. My litmus test for authentic Mexican restaurants is the salsa they are serving in season. Winter salsas are usually made from dried chilies nuts and various herbs. If you want this salsa hotter, throw in a Serrano or jalapeno pepper. I enjoy the subtle taste of the spaghetti squash and don’t want to overwhelm it with too much spice. This is a great side dish and perfect for your vegan friends. If you have any leftover salsa it is awesome with chips!

On one of my first trips to Turkey my sister’s nanny fixed a salad of flat beans with a light tomato, olive oil and lemon dressing, along with various meze dishes for dinner, all served room temperature. The original Turkish recipe uses more olive oil, but I have adapted the recipe to lighten it up, along with a few updates.

Romano beans are showing up more often in the green market and last week I even saw some yellow and purple ones. Look for beans that are a bright green color, firm and snap easily, avoid any limp ones. Romano beans are fleshy, sturdy and almost impossible to overcook.

I love the silky sauce produced as the beans cook down in the olive oil and tomatoes. My summer fridge is always equipped with salads I can eat through the week, al freso. I especially love this paired with fried chicken and a cucumber salad, for an impromptu picnic.

Sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until translucent, add garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and cumin and cook for 5 minutes. Add broad beans toss in sauce and add 1/2 cup water. Cover the beans with parchment paper and put a lid on the pan, this will keep the beans submerged in the liquid as they cook. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the heat off, take off cover and parchment and let beans come to room temperature. Add juice from half a lemon, adjust seasonings and serve room temperature or refrigerate, beans will keep for at least 5 days.

My summer cooking lab is up and running. Project number one, tweaking my pastry recipes for pies and crostatas. After a rainy June the summer berries have been plentiful, and now we are moving into apricots, peaches and plums…..

I’m not a big fan of whole grain pie crusts. Desserts are not something I indulge in every night and I want them to be decadent. Unbleached white flour is usually the best way to insure a light and delicate crust. On the other hand, I’m interested in how different flours can add to the flavor profile of the crust, offering, nutty, earthy notes. When I came across this rye pie crust recipe I was interested in the flavor and texture the rye flour would give, especially for berry pies which need a sturdier crust. The recipe also substitutes cold beer for the ice water, which means you must finish the remainder of the bottle while making the pie!

For my filling I use cherries with a scant amount of chopped lavender and lemon zest. Lavender is a strong flavor so don’t overdo it. Berry pies do need a bit of flour tossed with the fruit so the juice thickens. Many pie filling recipes call for 1/2 cup, but I prefer a quarter cup, and for other fruit that does not give off as much juice, I sprinkle a small amount of flour on the bottom layer of pie crust. I don’t mind a bit of juicy juice with the pie, but if you want the filling more solid increase the amount of flour.

The Rye Pie crust comes from 101 cookbooks, follow the link for more detailed instructions.

CHERRY LAVENDER PIE with RYE CRUST

Filling:

3 cups pitted cherries

1/2 cup natural sugar

1/4 cup flour

fine chop zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 teas. lavender chopped fine

sprinkle of salt

Preheat oven to 425. Pit the cherries, there should be enough so they are heaping out of the pie shell. Butter and flour a 9 inch pie tin. Sprinkle cherries with salt, then add all the other ingredients and mix well. Line the bottom crust in pan and fill with fruit mixture. I used a lattice crust but there is enough dough for a full top crust. I used the extra to make a hand pie. I always brush the top crust with an egg beaten with a small amount of water. Bake in center of oven for 45 minutes

FLAKY RYE PIE CRUST – 101 Cookbooks

75 g / v. scant 2/3 cup rye flour 175g /

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

8 oz / 1 cup salted butter

1/3 cup / 80 ml cold water or beer

You can make the crust using the quick and popular food processor technique. BUT I always make it by hand, using the above ingredients, and this technique. If you like a super-puffy crust, do the folding in Pim’s instructions 4x. I usually like mine less so, and fold & roll just 2 or 3 times, depending on how the dough is feeling. The pie in the photo was 3x.

I love the sour, tangy, savory taste of labne, the middle-eastern strained yogurt. In Turkey it is usually served as a meze dish at the beginning of a meal, drizzled with olive oil and served with flatbread. Labne is basically yogurt that has been salted and strained to remove the whey. It was traditionally used in eastern Mediterranean cooking because the higher fat content wouldn’t curdle at high temperatures in cooking.

It’s a cinch to make, just line a colander with cheesecloth, add yogurt that has been mixed with salt, (1/4 teas. per cup) put the colander over a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In just a couple days the yogurt will shed it’s whey and condense into a consistency similar to mascarpone. The best type of yogurt to use is strained greek-style yogurt, whole milk or 2%.

Usually I serve labne spread on a plate, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with hot or smoked paprika, served with pita bread or crudities. Perhaps my Sister in Istanbul has some input on the uses in Turkey beyond meze dishes…
I decided to experiment with labne in baking to see how it would hold up to high temperatures in a pastry crust. The crostata pastry recipe I use is Judy Roger’s rough pastry. Late August/September is plum season in the northeast, and poaching the plums in the sweet tea liquid takes care of the slightly unripe ones. Be sure and let the poaching liquid cool a bit so the plums don’t cook in it.Crostata with tea soaked plums, labne and pistachios

Boil 2 cups water, put in tea bags, 2 T sugar and lemon rind. Let the mixture cool to lukewarm and add plums to soak for at least one hour.

Roll out crostata dough in a rectangle or circle and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the labne in the middle, 2 inches from the edge of the pastry. Place the plums on the labne, sprinkle with the remaining 2 T sugar and pistachios. Turn in the edges and brush the top of the pastry with beaten egg yolk. Bake at 425 for 40 to 45 minutes..

The truth is, I’ve never been south of Rome, most places north, but never in the sole and heel of the boot. I visit Campania, Basilicata, Sicily and Sardinia sporadically in my imagination. In that very vivid imagination, I’m reclining in a canvas lounge chair lined with a stripped beach towel on the Amalfi coast wearing a 1950’s sexy black one piece suit, Jackie O sunglasses, extra wide brimmed straw hat, in my hand is a chilled glass of Greco di Tufo.

The white wines of Campania caught my attention about 5 years ago at an Italian importer’s tasting. Finally the southern whites being imported had caught up to the northern Italian whites in quality. Bright and sassy, with ripe fruit and a mineral edge, the essence of summer on the Italian seashore, bottled and ready for the runaway. I think of these wines every year when the mercury goes above 75 degrees. Not that you couldn’t enjoy them all year, but their freshness and expression of pure fruit pairs perfectly with summer’s al fresco dishes. The major white grapes of Campania are Falanghina, Fiano and Greco di Tufo, all thought to be of Greek origin. Most of these wines are meant to be consumed young, within 2-4 years. Top producer’s Mastroberardino and Terredora are the first family of Campania winemaking. After a family feud and court battle, one brother got the name, Mastroberardino, the other brother got the original vineyards, Terredora. Both of their wines are the textbook example of what these grapes can do with elevation and volcanic soil. I love their wines but I wanted to explore some smaller producers in the region, both of these producers are practicing organic, not certified.………

Antonio Camputo, Greco di Tufo, Enoaelta, 2012- Camputo’s vineyards are at the foothills of Mount Vesuvius, volcanic and clay soil, 13% alcohol, fermented in stainless steel and bottle aged for 3 months. This wine had wonderful acidity to balance out ripe stonefruit, a complex stony edge, with a waxy texture similar to Vermentino. $17-$20.

Benito Ferrara Greco di Tufo 2011 – A small producer with vineyards located on steep slopes 450-600 ft. above sea level. Practicing organic and hand harvested, the volcanic soils are loaded with yellow sulfur enhancing the aromatic qualities of the Greco di Tufo. This wine has a light golden hue, creamy texture with round ripe stonefruit and a complex mineral finish, 13% alcohol. An elegant example of Greco, and would pair perfectly with scallops, lobster and any fatty fish and of course fresh mozzarella. $22-$24.

Pairing:
Burrata is a fresh mozzarella from Puglia, made with Italian buffalo or cow’s milk. The outer shell is pure mozzarella and the interior is cream and mozzarella. Burrata has a short shelf life, and is not always easy to find in the states. Since I’m recreating an imagined future trip to southern Italy I decided to try a local version of Burrata from Maplebrook farms in Vermont. It is made by a Puglian cheesemaker using cow’s milk and will stand up to any “real” Italian Burrata. Also good quality mozzarella works just fine for this recipe, just make sure you bring the mozzarella to room temperature where it’s cushiony goodness really shines.
I make my lemon salt by chopping lemon zest fine and mixing it with a good finishing salt. You can do this up to a day in advance. Top-notch ingredients are essential to this dish and if you have some Sicilian sea salt lying around, this is the time to use it.

Cut the burrata in half and put one half on each plate. Toss the fennel and peas with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and a touch of salt. Put on plate around the burrata, drizzle with good quality olive oil and sprinkle with the lemon salt.

For many years I made bread and butter pickles from an Emeril Lagasse, Louisiana Real and RusticCookbook. The recipe was similar to the pickles my grandma made and put up in her cellar. I would buy a basket full of kirbys at the height of the season, boil canning jars, soak the cuke slices in ice and salt overnight and then add them to the hot brine. Another boil of the sealed jars and they were finally done when the jar lids popped as they sat on the counter cooling. There was something satisfying about the process and the pickles made great Holiday gifts. When I opened them throughout the year I discovered after 6 months they had turned to mush………. I don’t have a garden with produce to preserve, so now I am a convert to quick refrigerator pickles.

Pickles are trending right now and I’m a fan of them as a condiment, not as a meal! Recently I ate at Skal, an Icelandic restaurant on the lower east side of Manhattan. Each vegetable was given different brines and the plate worked perfectly with our smoked herring and salt cod fritters. Pickles are a great way to provide contrast on the plate, in texture, acidity and color. Here are two pickle recipes I’m fond of. The first is basically an Italian giardiniera. These pickles are low calorie, no sugar and minimal salt, they have a clean and crisp flavor and add a shot of color to the plate. I vary the vegetables as to what is in the market and cut them into equal sizes. They are also an excellent accompaniment to braised dishes such as short ribs or any Italian salami, adding a crunch of acidity to the fatty meat. Also they are excellent with Mexican food, as a condiment with tacos or enchiladas and will add a cooling contrast to any spicy dishes.

The refrigerator pickles are great on sandwiches, with fried chicken and chopped up in tuna or egg salad. When the jar is empty you just add more pickles, onions and dill into the same brine. The jar will last all summer and they are ready in one day. My favorite pickle sandwich, Italian or good quality Virginia ham, on a cibatta roll, bottom half spread with butter, ham, pickles, arugula, with some olive oil and vinegar sprinkled on top…….

GIARDINIERA serves 6-8

1 small head cauliflower (purple or green looks great)

1 red bell pepper, cut in strips

1 large carrot cut in rounds on the diagonal

1 large celery stalk cut in rounds, diagonal

1 handful green and yellow beans, trimmed

1 fennel, cut into eights through the core

6 large radishes cut in half

2 bay leaves

6 peppercorns

1 cup white vinegar (Heinz is the best for pickling)

Place vinegar with 6 cups water bay leaf peppercorns and all vegetables except green beans and red pepper in a large pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 8 minutes and then turn off heat. Add green beans and red pepper, sprinkle with salt and let sit for 1 hour. Transfer to a plastic or glass container and add enough brine to cover the veggies.